The only entertaining thing about this whole mess is watching the rest of the world get their copies while Canada's largest trading partner receive's theirs last. If I was a conspiracy nut, or just a little bit more paranoid, I would think they are trying to tell us something.

And that was my point too in discussing other stuff I get from Canada. Blaming the USPS or customs is an easy way out and relieves them of responsibility. What it does not do is address the real problem, make any attempt to correct it and most importantly, satisfy the paying customer.

Danni, you _second copy_ of the Lightroom Tutorial was mailed to you (and the email sent) on October 20. It _should_ arrive within a few days.

We, and particularly Steven Sauve, take our responsibility very seriously - as I believe our reaction to shipping problems demonstrates. Should you wish faster delivery, you do have the option of UPS or FedEx.

One issue - this has been a known problem for a LONG time. The simple solution would be to stop using USPS as an option for US customers all together. I went through this exact same thing for the last time with #14 and chose UPS this time. The cost is only a few bucks - NOT a big deal, and CERTAINLY worth paying for to get the product in a reasonable timeframe (mine took 4 days and was tracked). Get rid of the USPS option and you will have NO furhter problems. If you haven't figure out this is SERIOUSLY pissing off dozens of customers everytime you make a new issue, now you know.

Second issue - sending 'replacements' via the same useless courier only exhasurbates people's frustration. Send them UPS and be done with it, you'll make people happier by fulfilling the order as expected.

You can't just shrug off the problem ands say 'it's UPSP there's nothing we can do'. We all pay for the product, and we don't (often, in the US) get it as expected. Once you know about a problem you have a responsability to fix it. The solution lies in my first paragraph if you are sure the cause is simply the USPS (although I have never had a delay from any other Canadian vendor or personal letter).

Yes, we could get rid of postal delivery - it would solve a lot of headaches - but:

This would increase the cost of a four issue subscription by at least $20 (about 30%).

95% of customers who purchase DVDs, opt for the least expensive shipping option - the mail. The increased cost of courier delivery is not a choice that the vast majority of customers find attractive.

Your second suggestion is a reasonable one and may be an option.

The fact remains that the LLVJ-15 DVDs for the USA were mailed between October 5th and 11th. Today is the 27th, just over two weeks from the latest shipping date. While certainly less than satisfactory, I do not believe it unreasonable to ask customers to allow 21 days for a mail shipment.

As far as 'shrugging off the problem' goes, that is unfair. We do take your comments seriously and do take action.

By shruggin off, I mean action taken - sending the replacements via USPS, which is perportedly the problem in the first place - solves nothing. THe only action that will fix that problem is sending via another carrier, or the problem is not solved.

You think waiting 21 days for something is reasonable? I think if you take a quick poll here you will find you are mistaken. 21 days is very UNreasonable to me at least. In fact, anything more than a week means there is a problem. This is 2006, not 1906. I would estimate that 99.9% of everything I order comes in less than 1 week. That is the norm, not 21 to me.

If 95% of your customers (is that US only, which is what we are talking about here?) opt for the cheapest option, is it made clear to them at that time, that the cheapest option is a KNOWN problem? No, it is not - again, that is your responsability. If you want to offer that option, knowing full well that it's a MAJOR problem, causing huge delays, lost shipments, multiple threads every single quarter - then make a big, bold statement about it on the shipping page. You will undoubtedly find that your percentage of USPS orders plummets.

Personally, I think that statement is very misleading. You know full well that some people don't know about the problem, but you quote a figure as if they do. Sure most choose it, but only out of ignorace. Inform the customer and THEN you can make a statement about the percentages.

I sent a registered letter to the United States from Canada 3 weeks ago. Tracking indicated that it arrived accross the border on day two. 16 days have passed and still not delivered.My second scenerio: I sent a small packet to the U.K. 8 weeks ago with tracking by surface mail. It arrived at a London postal outlet in 3 weeks time and has now sat for 5 weeks to verify the address. The address is the correct one by the way.I have been waiting 17 days for my DVD and I live 2 hours from Toronto.Am I the only one that sees a pattern here, I think the post offices are forcing us to use their priority post or express post options.

WOWW I guess some , people ,perdon, Few people are mad. I can wait another few weeks no problem, I will not pay $20 more just to have it on time. No , no, don't get mad, just relax watch the other 14 dvd, is alot to learn from the other 14. I keep watching the one from Bosque del apache, after I watch the video I have been there 3 times and I'm going again next month, So don't get mad, enjoy life.oh my son ask me what is wrong, why i keep looking out of the windows I tell him

The problem is with the US and Canadian postal service. Natalie and I have the exact same problem shipping our orders from the US to Canada. It takes on average 15 to 20 days for orders to make it from Arizona to Canada via US Air Mail... The problem is the post office, not the shipper. All we can do is offer courier shipping at a higher cost, or carry the packages accross the border and ship them from the other side ;-) I do understand the frustration, but this is a problem that is not within our control.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming LL for the shipping time - but fixing the problem has to include informing the consumer of the real problem. There is a blurb on the site that says it may take 2-3 weeks. It's on the webpage, not the shopping cart (unless I'm blind/stupid). That timeframe is also best case. What it should say to be honest, is 2-8 weeks. If it said that, then no one could have any beef with the situation, it would obviously be thier own fault for taking the gamble rather than choosing a better courier (like I did and will from now on).

Oh yeah, here's the poll. Maybe I'm wrong and no one but a handful of us care about this, maybe those few that start these threads are the weird-os, I don't know. Maybe in a couple weeks the numbers will show something meaningful.

Oh yeah, here's the poll. Maybe I'm wrong and no one but a handful of us care about this, maybe those few that start these threads are the weird-os, I don't know. Maybe in a couple weeks the numbers will show something meaningful.

No we are not weirdos. We just expect reasonable service for our money. You are correct in that LL should make the delay time very visble at subscription time, and certainly should not send the replacement by the same method - that extra cost of sending a replacement by UPS is just the cost of doing business and satisfying customers. Evidently, LL does not see satisfied customers as a priority when it comes to their DVD's.

Please note: I have no issue with the quality of the DVD - it is superb.

You think waiting 21 days for something is reasonable? I think if you take a quick poll here you will find you are mistaken. 21 days is very UNreasonable to me at least. In fact, anything more than a week means there is a problem. This is 2006, not 1906.

Well, in 1906, the mail would certainly get there quicker than it would today. It seems that mail had higher priority back then than it does now.

I've experienced weird delivery times when ... er ... "communicating" via USPS before. For a few years, I exchanged letters with a friend in Colorado. Mail one way went considerably faster than the other (typically 3-7 days from Colorado to Norway, and almost exactly three weeks from Norway to Colorado).

Then I spent nine months in California, where I sometimes had to send mail home or receive mail from home. Guess which way was faster. But was it reliable from the US, even if it usually was faster? No.

Around the same time, I did a bit of gaming card trading through online shops and eBay, usually with people in the US. USPS was notoriously unreliable, to the point that I almost got lousy feedback permanently tacked to my eBay record.

I also order books and sometimes photo equipment from abroad. I always go for the cheaper delivery service. Royal Mail from Amazon in the UK often takes as little as one or two days (that's really impressive, it's just as fast as if it were inside of Norway), while delivery from Amazon in the US takes ... well, a week or three.

Friends seem to have similar experiences.

The conclusion seems to be that the USPS is putting a very low priority on both delivery time and quality for mail from abroad. I'd be tempted to call it anti-competitive measures, but I don't have the empirical data to say so with any reasonable statistical confidence.

I work for the USPS and it's interesting to see the finger pointing. I can tell you this, I have asked for an inquirey of the situation. I don't know if I'll get a satisfactory reply or not.This I know, when it gets to the hands of the letter carriers there is no descrimination as to what country it came from or to whom it's going. What comes in that day goes out that day.From what I've seen, FedEx and UPS do a good job. They are known as common carriers and anything you ship with them can be opened and inspected at any time they wish without recourse. If you ship with the USPS it takes a Federal search warrant signed by a Federal Judge to open and inspect your mail.

I received my last video journal almost 2 MONTHS after it was shipped! I have yet to receive #15. I have an idea that would have helped some of MY own frustrations. You need to put a disclaimer to US customers that it will take MONTHS for them to get their DVD's. I bought the "Big Kahuna" package for a lot of money. I feel that as a paying customer I deserve better service that what I'm getting.

Chris

PS I order quite a few items from all over Canada and they arrive just as fast a US shipped product. I have NO IDEA why the video journals take so unacceptble long to get here.